The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-10
THE TRIAL or KISSANE
And HIS Coconspirators I'm Helena,
Ark, I'm 1854.

And HIS Coconspirators I'm Helena.
Ark, I'm 1854.
A correspondent Of the New York
Herald at Helena. sends that paper
the following from records Of the
court in the famous trial OF William
Kissane and others in the year 1854,
on the double charge Of arson and
murder. Volumes IF" and &c" are
musty with age, and though nearly
every Citizen OF this city who had
any connection with the trial is now
dead. the original indictments and
the records Of the court pending the
trial are as legible and clear as if
written yesterday.
The steamboat Martha Washing
ton was burned near the head of the
Island 66 in this (Phillips) couny,
Arkansas, on January ID, 1852.
Sixteen lives we're lost, and for sew
eral months the disaster was
regarded as enc ut the
apparently inevitable accidents at
tending navigation.
In May. 1854. Sidney Q. Burton, OF
Cincinnati, came before the grand
| Jury, OF which Henry p. Coolidge, a
former Ohioan, and brother of the
late John X. Coolidge, of Cincinnati,
was foreman, and by his own and the
evidence OF Henry Cup, John Il.
Smith, Il. IL. Filley and John
Wheatler procured the indictment
of Henry j. Cole, Amasa Chaplin,
Adam Chaplin, Lorenzo Chaplin,
BENZ. A. Earle, VIM. H. Holland,
VIM, Kissane, John N. Cummings
James G. Nicholson and George p
Stephens. The indictments, mum
bered 81 and 92, were drawn by
Henry Bodham, the States Attor-
ney, and are couched in the quaint
phraseology OF that period.
acquisitions we're issued by the
Governor. and all Of the parties
named in the indictments were
brought here for trial except james
Il. Nicholson aud George p. Ste
pheus. The Examining Court, which
was in session for several weeks
bound them over and fixed the bond
of the prisoners at $1,000 each fo
Kissane and Cole, $4,000 for Cum
mings, and 5000 each for Holland
|, Earle and the Chapins. In tn
charge of arson, the bail was hxe,
at $1,000 each. At the May term o
the Circuit Court, Judge Charles W
Adams, Circuit Judge, reduced tn
{ bail to 5000 each, except in the case
j of Cummings aud the three Chapins
, in which the bail was made $500
I each.
BURTON THE PROSECUTION,
t Sidney 9. Burton appeared
A throughout the whole proceedings t
9 be the active and earnest prosecutor
and engaged Maj. John q. Paine
and Gen. Albert Pike to asst;
States Attorney Bodham in tn
5 prosecution. Col. Ed Yerger, Judg
4 W. 4. Brown aud Judge Il. NJ. W
l King, of Memphis; Judge Thoma
t b. Hanley aud Mark w. Alexander
$ Of this city, represented the defense
d After several days Of hard 6ghtiu
/. the defense succeeded in having tn
# trials continued until the Novembe
n term, 1854, The gentlemsnly al
Q pearance of the prisoners, their hig
It intelligence and respectable cor
d nections, their serene, quiet and col
o iident demeanor, contrasted with I'll
h restless aud determined character I
It Sidney 9. Burton, won for them sue
IS sympathy that bail was easily oil
10 tainable, and even Gen. Able
lie Pike, who had been retained for Ii
prosecution, went on the bond
| Benjamin A. Earle, who was, Ill
rs himself, Mason of high standin
" Gen. Pixies action iu this matt,
h was resented by Burton, who di
It, missed him as assistant counsel. I
ey the 18th Of November none Of Il
IS. prisoners were on hand, and
as forfeiture of their bail bonds was g
| tered on the court records. A IL
to days later, however, all of the d
| PENDANTS except William Kissal
he and Lyman j. Cole appear,
r. in court and announced that tn
N, we're ready for trial. The result
ay the trial was the acquittal Of Jof
he N. Cummings by the jury, wher
'as upon the attorney for the State 9
" tered nolle pros in the case Of &
de other defendants and they were d
charged, William Kissane aud L
man } Cole never appeared for trit
ty; both OF them being confined in
nd New York jail on charge of fC
rty gerry, and in the closing days of t
we November term second aud fit
of forfeiture OF their bonds was c
zen tered on the records of the cou
Ow The following gentlemen, all citize
zee of tue place, were ON these [,
l." bonds aud made settlement "a !
quired by the terms of the bono
he AbsslOm Fowler, Thomas Pear,